Free government money which should have been spent on helping to educate vulnerable children in care has been given back by Bristol City Council.

The sizable government grant was given to the authority in the last financial year to help provide extra school support to children in care.

However, £278,260 of the cash was not spent or allocated by the end of the 2017 financial year in April, so the council was forced to return it to Whitehall.

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said it was "disappointed" that the full grant was not spent and has put new measures in place to ensure that all of the current grant will be spent in time.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Brislington West, Jos Clark is now calling for more information as to why the authority missed the opportunity to spend vital funds on some of the most vulnerable children in the city.

Bristlington West councillor, Jos Clark

She said: “In the first instance I am very sad. Firstly because we are not giving a service to young people who are already at a disadvantage and secondly because we are a really cash strapped authority and it breaks my heart to think that we are sending money back to government.”

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In response to the Brislington West councillor’s concerns, a Bristol City Council spokesperson said the authority has made changes to have been made to ensure that this year's grant will be spent in full.

They added: “Supporting the education and development of children in care is one of our most important duties as a corporate parent.

"We recognise that there are challenges in ensuring money is allocated effectively but are disappointed that not all of the 2016/17 grant could be used in time.

"We have since put in place more effective arrangements to make sure support money is allocated to individual Looked After Children and continue to work closely with HOPE Virtual School to ensure that none of the 2017/18 grant funding is returned unspent.”

It is understood there is one other grant which had to be partially or fully returned to central government because it was not spent or allocated on time. It is not known which council department this money was given to.